Commentary

COVID Content Rush: B2B Consumption Rose 22% Last Year

C-suite executives consumed 3% less content in 2020 YoY, according to NetLine Corp.’s 2021 State of B2B Content Consumption and Demand Report -- perhaps reflecting their burdens during the COVID-19 pandemic.

That means fewer content assets were requested (and fewer email newsletters were opened). Yet C-suite residents still remained the most active area by job level. And overall, B2B content consumption rose by 22%.

However, it took an average of one additional hour for people to get to this content. The overall average was 29.7 hours — up from 28.5 hours in 2019. 

But senior vice presidents took only 20.4 hours — down from 27.6 hours in the prior year. Supervisors lagged, with their average consumption time jumping by 57% to 41 hours.

The findings, which are based on client activity on the NetLine platform, could help email creatives tasked with driving webinar registrations and other content requests. 

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The top formats last year by registrations? Ebooks, by far — they were requested by 40%, way up from the 2019 level of less than 30%. 

Guides were a distant second, while white papers came in third, although they fell from the prior year. Still, 63% of total downloads came from the top three formats. And webinars saw a 103% increase in uploads, with on-demand webinars generating 36% more registrations than live ones. 

In another key finding, mobile consumption fell by 7%, perhaps because people were working on laptops or desktop systems at home.

Among active audiences, High Tech grew by 23% and remained at the top.

Education was second, having seen a 27.46% increase during that difficult year. And Hospitals, Clinics, and Doctor Offices shot into the top three, thanks to a huge 140.6% increase.

Consumption by topic category was as follows:

  • IT — 38.8%
  • Finance — 10.6%
  • HR — 9.6%
  • Operations — 8%
  • Sales — 5.9%
  • Marketing — 5.8%
  • Management — 5.8%
  • Manufacturing — 5.8%
  • Healthcare & medical — 2.16%
  • Retail — 1.74%
  • Engineering — 1.72%
  • Government — 1.07%
  • Meetings & Travel — 0.85%
  • Life Sciences — 0.85%
  • Construction — 0.75%
  • Utility & Energy — 0.67%
  • Multimedia — 0.60%
  • Automotive, Trade, Food, Beverage, Lifestyle, Career, Agriculture — less than 0.50% each

As for timing, midweek dominated consumption, as shown by percentage of engagement per day:

  • Sunday — 4.99%
  • Monday — 18.33%
  • Tuesday — 18.55%
  • Wednesday — 18.79%
  • Thursday — 18.23%
  • Friday — 16.73%
  • Saturday — 4.37%

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